RALEIGH, NC - MARCH 19: Marcus Paige #5 of the North Carolina Tar Heels and Jalen Lindsey #21 of the Providence Friars look on in the second half during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PNC Arena on March 19, 2016 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The North Carolina Tar Heels won 85-66. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 592272673 less

RALEIGH, NC - MARCH 19: Marcus Paige #5 of the North Carolina Tar Heels and Jalen Lindsey #21 of the Providence Friars look on in the second half during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball ... more

Photo: Streeter Lecka

Image 2 of 3

North Carolina's Marcus Paige shoots against Indiana's Collin Hartman during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the regional semifinals of the men's NCAA Tournament, Friday, March 25, 2016, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) ORG XMIT: PXC158 less

North Carolina's Marcus Paige shoots against Indiana's Collin Hartman during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the regional semifinals of the men's NCAA Tournament, Friday, March 25, 2016, in ... more

Photo: Matt Rourke

Image 3 of 3

Paige finds his touch just in time

1 / 3

Back to Gallery

Chapel Hill, N.C.

Marcus Paige spent two months in an all-out fight with his shot, trying not to let frustration take over with each spun-off-the-rim floater and rattled-out 3-pointer.

The senior's shot has come around at just the right time for Final Four-bound North Carolina.

Paige has scored in double figures for six straight games — his longest run all season — and shot 48 percent from behind the arc in the NCAA Tournament. Consider it a welcome (back) addition of a reliable perimeter scorer and shooter to an already deep offense entering Saturday's national semifinal against Syracuse in Houston.

"I'm just playing more free and more confident and more relaxed," Paige said Tuesday, "and the ball's been going in."

Those January and February shooting struggles sunk Paige's season numbers for the Tar Heels (32-6), the No. 1 seed in the East Region that's back in the Final Four for the first time since 2009. The slender 6-foot-2 native of Marion, Iowa, is averaging 12.3 points and shooting just 39.6 percent, while his free-throw shooting fell from about 86 percent over his first three seasons to 77.5 percent this year.

But in the NCAA Tournament, he's averaged 14 points while making 13 of 27 3-pointers — highlighted by him hitting four quick 3s on the way to 21 points in the Sweet 16 win against Indiana.

The shooting struggles were a head-scratcher for anyone who had watched UNC regularly over the past two years, let alone Paige and coach Roy Williams. He had carried the burden of needing to find his shot quickly to get the Tar Heels moving at full speed, and carried it well.

As his shot abandoned him, Paige focused on being one of the team's top wing defenders and on other contributions until he could find it again.

"I think he handled it better than anybody I've ever seen," Williams said. "And he believed in what the staff was telling him about how he could still help us and what he was doing to help us. But it was tougher on him than anybody. He's a perfectionist in about everything does."